Well Mannered Virgins
by MandyQ
Summary: Come to Andromeda Black's beach party.  Hang out with her fellow seventh years particularly Lucius Malfoy. It's the spring of 1972 and things are about to change forever. AndromedaTed, LuciusNarcissa. Please R&R. TDH compliant. no spoilers. complete.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Not Mine. Not even a little bit. Not making any money. Not getting any permission. Not caring.

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"An!" Lucius was practically running toward her. He had a house-elf behind him, laden with parcels stacked higher than its head, and he seemed to be paying it little to no notice at all. He also seemed to be paying little notice to the young lady scurrying along beside him, trying to keep up with his pace across the sand.

"Lucius, slow down!" Ellsion Bulstrode insisted, holding her sunglasses with one hand and trying to use her other arm for balance as the sand shifted under her toes. "Anny isn't going anywhere. We've found the party; you can walk like a gentleman to get the rest of the way!" Lucius rolled his eyes and kept up his pace. He hadn't wanted Ellison along with him today in the first place.

It was their last Easter vacation from Hogwarts and Andromeda Black was throwing a party. And not just any party. Her parents had rented out and enchanted a large stretch of seashore in Lancashire near Blackpool, complete with a cottage for the teens' use for the weekend. It was a wonderful idea, and Lucius had to admit that only An would have thought of such a thing. Most of the others in their social circle would have been content with stuffy cotillions or dignified tea parties to signal their impending transition to adulthood, but not Andromeda. An was the vivacious and fun loving type. That, coupled with her assurance of perpetual social currency in light of having been born a Black, allowed her to have the gumption to ask her parents for such a gathering.

Lucius was more than a little annoyed that Elle Bulstrode had suggested that they come together. And even more so that she had done the asking in his father's presence. Abraxas Malfoy and Ignatius Bulstrode were old friends and it was an open secret that they had been trying to get Lucius and Ellison together for as long as they had been alive. The truth was that Lucius had no romantic interest at all in Ellison, and never had. He did, however, have his eye on a girl who was likely to be at this party and was not looking forward to having Elle hanging off of his arm while he attempted to employ his charms with her.

He quickened his pace a little more as he approached the teenagers on the sand. "Lucius!" Andromeda greeted him as he approached. She bounded over to his side and took his arm, leading him to a palette of towels and blankets laid out on top of the sand. "Glad you could make it!" she added. Anny was anything but subtle. She was wearing a white bikini with very loud polka dots in varying colors, huge sunglasses, and a floppy hat. Lucius, in his khaki trousers and oxford shirt, felt a bit out of place. Everyone around was in their bathing suit or similar, and most of them were in the water already. He would need to get changed, and quickly if he was going to get into a large enough group that would allow him to ditch Ellison properly. "There's changing rooms over there," An told him, as though she had read his mind. "And you can send the elf with your stuff up to the house.

"Hello, Anny," Ellison called out to her.

"Elle!" An greeted the girl, before turning to Lucius with a scathing snarl. "So good to see you," she added. "You had ought to go get changed," An told Ellison, again gesturing to the tiny changing rooms at the periphery of the party area. Elle nodded and turned to head in that direction.

"Coming, Lucius?" Elle asked her escort, a lewd tone in her voice apparent to anyone who might have overheard.

"Actually, Lucius," Andromeda injected, "can you help me with something first?" Lucius nodded.

"Sure, An," he answered, relief at being rescued from Ellison's company more clear in his voice than he might have liked. It wasn't as though he disliked Ellison, he just had no romantic interest in her, and he could not stand it when she got so flirty with him. Ellison nodded and headed toward the changing rooms. Lucius waited until he was certain that she was out of earshot to shake his head and sigh aloud. "Thanks," he told Andromeda, smiling over at her and rolling his eyes. Andromeda shook her head and punched him in the arm.

"The hell is that about, Lucius?" she asked him, plopping to sit down on the blankets at their feet. "You brought a bloody date?"

"I didn't have a bloody choice," he explained to her, taking a seat next to her on the ground. "Elle suggested that we come together right in front of my father, what the hell was I supposed to say to that?"

"You were supposed to say that you were coming to the party to get your bloody mits on my little sister and that having Elle Bulstrode attached to you the whole time would be the biggest cock block in the history of cock blocking." She reached into a nearby cooler and tossed a bottle of beer to Lucius. She flicked her wand and popped the cap off before repeating the motion with a beverage for herself.

"I'm sure that would have gone over famously," Lucius commented, taking his first sip.

"You kidding?" An exclaimed. "Your father finds out you're chasing one of the Black daughters around and he'll never speak to the Bulstrodes again," she asserted, taking a swig from her own bottle.

"I might be a little more tactful about it than calling him a cock block, though," Lucius posited. An shrugged her shoulders and gulped her drink.

"Perhaps," she agreed. "But I had to invite a bunch of bloody fifth years to my party so that you could make some headway with my sister. So you'd better make some bloody headway." Lucius chuckled.

"Well, maybe having Elle along will be good for that," he offered.

"The hell?" An rebutted.

"I'm not about to try and seduce your sister this weekend, An," he explained. "There are the kind of girls you marry and the kind of girls you have fun with. Your sister is the former. Elle Bulstrode qualifies as the latter. I can flirt with your sister and get my jollies elsewhere."

"You could get your jollies a number of places this weekend, Lucius," Andromeda told him, scooting closer to him on the blanket. "Mirella Craigdarroch is here, and she'll do it with anybody."

"I know," Lucius asserted. "She's the biggest slut left in school since Di graduated." Andromeda sipped her beer and shook her head.

"Di…" she exhorted. "Aphrodite Killingsworth was not a slut," she posited. "I'm a slut," she added. "Mirella is a slut, Areneya Montpetit is a slut. Aphrodite Killingsworth was a predator." Lucius tilted his head toward her and held out the bottle in his hand. An clinked the glass of her bottle against his.

"Touché," Lucius affirmed. "And you're not a slut," he added. "Bellatrix was a slut. You're…" he thought for a moment. "Popular," he finished.

"Thank you, Lucius," An said back to him. "And Bella was a slut. She knows, by the way," she added.

"Knows what?" he asked, taking another swig from the bottle in his hand.

"That you fancy Cissy," she answered. "She said something about hexing your balls to explode if you mess with her, so it's probably better that you intend to get laid elsewhere."

"Great," Lucius groaned, shaking his head. "The last thing I need is Bellatrix looking over my shoulder." Bellatrix Black was not someone that any sane man would wish to have monitoring his every move; particularly in light of the fact that Bella had always been fiercely protective of her youngest sister. It was for that reason that Lucius had chosen to enlist the help of Andromeda alone when his interest had been piqued just this year by the younger girl. Narcissa Black was two years his junior, blonde, polite, and just feisty enough to have hexed Landon Trichonac's robe sleeves to his waist so that he could never put his elbows on a table again. That was what had caught Lucius' attention to begin with. He had never really paid much attention to Narcissa; she was awfully quiet most of the time and he had been friends with her two older sisters for long enough that it had taken some getting over for him to stop seeing her as a child.

"You know Bella loves you," Andromeda assured him. "You're like the brother we never had. And if you marry Cissy, then you'll be our brother. Bella and I both agree that would be the ideal. Just don't break Cissy's heart and Bella won't break your balls."

"I will do my best, An," he assured her. Lucius finished his beer and withdrew his wand from his pocket to vanish the bottle. "And who have you brought to shag this weekend, Anny?" he asked, turning the subject slightly. "Your mudblood boyfriend decide to come?" An frowned at him.

"I didn't ask him," she spat. "And he's not my boyfriend," she added. An took another long drink from the bottle in her hand. She then tossed it into the air above their heads before vanishing it with her own wand.

"Really?" Lucius quizzed, quirking an eyebrow at her and laying down on his side with his head propped on his elbow. "You seem to be spending a lot of time with that Hufflepuff, Anny," he added.

"Like you've never had a sport fuck," she sounded back, laying down beside him on her stomach.

"And that's all it is?" he asked. Lucius was genuinely concerned. He had hoped that this weekend would afford him the chance to corner An and let her know what her widely known tryst with Ted Tonks was doing to her reputation.

"The hell, Lucius," she replied, shaking her head. "Of course that's what it is." Lucius could see her eyes behind her huge sunglasses, and she looked concerned.

"Well, you might want to look in to taking up another sport, An," Lucius recommended. "People are beginning to talk."

"People talk," she answered, rolling over onto her back and lacing her fingers together behind her head. "Ted Tonks is bloody amazing in the sack and I will continue to shag him at will until we've graduated and perhaps even beyond that."

"Andromeda Laurentia Eileen Black you are lying to me," he asserted.

"Lucius Aurelius Maximus Malfoy you oughtn't accuse a lady of lying," she countered.

"You've been 'shagging him at will', so you say, for more than a year. And you've not been shagging anybody else," he reminded her. Andromeda turned her head to look at him and moved her sunglasses from her face to look him in the eye.

"So what if I like him?" she whispered. There was no one nearby, but Lucius could tell that she was concerned that someone might hear.

"So what?" Lucius repeated, shaking his head and moving closer to her. "So I think your parents would have a fit if they found out."

"They'd have a fit if they knew I was having a shag with anybody," she reminded him. "They think all three of us are like Cissy; well behaved little virgins. They've got no bloody clue I'm doing anybody, much less Ted."

"But if they found out, Anny," Lucius made certain to keep his voice low, but equally certain that he sounded as serious as the situation warranted.

"They won't," she assured him. "At least not…" An stopped herself.

"At least?" he asked, echoing her words. "You're not thinking what I'm afraid you're thinking?" An shook her head.

"I'm not thinking anything," she answered. "Really, I'm not. I may have had a daydream or two, but I've no real intentions either way."

"Just be careful, alright," he implored. "I want you to be the best man in my wedding." An laughed and punched him in the arm again.

"Severus can be your best man," she offered, "Or Roddy. I plan to be the maid of honor." Lucius laughed aloud.

"You won't be in the wedding at all if you keep hitting me," he joked.

"There won't be any wedding if you don't get a move on," she reminded him. "Cissy's on the deck at the house, reading; as if that's any surprise. You should go and catch up with your elf. Ask Cissy where the guest rooms are, she'll show you. She's nothing if not a perfect hostess. Then you can get into your suit and maybe talk her into coming out here with everyone else." Lucius stood up and nodded.

"You're a good friend, Anny," he told her. Andromeda smiled up at him.

"I want you in the family, Lucius," she told him. "I'm happy to help." She stood and looked him in the eye. "And you're a good friend, too," she told him. "I'll think about what you said."

"You do that," he encouraged. "I've seen the wall at your aunt and uncle's house. I don't want to see you burned off of the tapestry before I get added to it; or ever, for that matter."

"Now go," Andromeda urged. "Go, before Ellison gets back." Lucius nodded and took a step toward the cottage in the distance.

"And if you need to talk…" he said back to her. Andromeda nodded and smiled.

"Thanks," she replied. "Now go!" Lucius turned on his heel and took off toward the little house. As he jogged toward it, he wondered how all of the teenagers were going to fit in such a small space. Perhaps this weekend would afford him the chance to get close to Anny's little sister at that.

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This weekend may get another chapter. Let me know what you think. Reviews are better than air. :)

-MQ


	2. Chapter 2

Remember when this was a one-shot. Well, I've been convinced otherwise. This chapter, and all subsequent parts of the weekend are dedicated to Peevesthepoltergeist.

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"Narcissa," Lucius addressed her as he mounted the steps to the cottage. The pretty blonde on the chaise lounge shifted her eyes from her book to the new arrival. She hadn't moved another muscle and Lucius took a split second to enjoy the view he had of her in her navy blue one piece swimsuit and straw sunbonnet. He could just see the blue of her eyes over the tops of her tortoiseshell sunglasses as a pleasant smile crossed her lips.

"Oh, hello Lucius," she greeted. Not exactly the reception he had hoped for, but then again he knew better than to think that she might leap from her seat and fawn over him. Narcissa Black had never visited such treatment on anyone as far as he knew, and she wasn't likely to start now. "I had guessed that was your house-elf with all of the packages just now."

"Yes," he answered, pausing on the top step to lean against the railing. "Well, one never knows what one might need for such an occasion," he posited. Narcissa nodded her head and lay her open book across her lap.

"Anny brought twice as much," she told him, "and Mirella half again, so there's no worry. And you've got Ellison's things with you as well?" Damn. She knew about that.

"That I have," he allowed.

"It's unofficial," she told him, "but couples are on the first floor."

"Couples?" he asked. He was pretty sure this was the best opportunity he was going to have to explain away his bringing Elle along.

"Yes, Lucius," she answered, a near sour expression coming to her face. "The boys are on the ground floor, two to a room except the large one where there may need to be more. The girls are on the second floor, and the staircase has been enchanted to keep the boys off of it. However, the several rooms on the first floor have been designated for use by those among us who wish to share a room with a member of the opposite gender," she informed him. "For whatever purpose," she added. "Nothing's been really sorted out in that department, however," she said. "I suppose that'll be the kind of thing that happens by itself late tonight and after a considerable amount of firewhiskey." Narcissa shrugged and picked her book back up. "Our elf is called Dobby," she added. "He knows pretty well where everything is. Yours can stay with him if it's staying. Otherwise, feel free to call on him, he's quite adept."

"Thank you," Lucius said back to her. He couldn't help but hear that her tone was that of an admonishing chaperone, and not of a young girl who was in the least excited by an entire weekend with no parents. "And I will keep my things on the ground floor," he added by way of an assurance that he was planning to behave himself whilst they were here. He may choose to dally over the weekend, but the sleeping arrangements would not betray this to Narcissa. She tilted her head toward him as though in disbelief and shrugged her shoulders.

"Do as you wish," she commented. Lucius nodded and headed up the final stair and through the open sliding glass door into the house. He shook his head and frowned. No girl had ever ignored him the way that one just had. Not ever. He was the indomitable sex god Lucius Malfoy and he was certainly not used to having to work so hard for female attention.

But then again, he wasn't used to this kind of female, either. Narcissa Black was in a different league altogether. Most of his conquests, and there had been many, had been of capricious girls, girls with no real family connections, or girls for whom he cared very little. This was not the case with Narcissa. He would not even entertain the notion of trying most of the weapons in his arsenal to garner her affection. Even if he had, no trick he had heretofore relied upon was likely to work on Narcissa. After all, he was the champion of the sordid affair and the king of the one night stand, but he had never really attempted to court a girl honestly before. And he had never encountered a girl as worthy of a change in tactics. This action required a whole new playbook; one that he was not at all certain he even knew how to use. What he was certain of was that he was very glad to have her sister on his side. Andromeda would see to it that he didn't screw things up too badly.

Lucius found it more than just a little disconcerting that he was so damned nervous. She was, after all, just a girl… wasn't she? He'd been with dozens of girls, and none of them had ever seemed displeased by his company. But still, those girls were easy targets and he'd had no qualms about using them and forgetting about them. All except for one….

Aphrodite Killingsworth might have been his best friend. She might have been his worst nightmare. She might have been everything he ever wanted and everything he ever feared. She might have been the love of his life. What she had been was a sexual deviant with an appetite that equaled his own. They had reveled in each other beginning in his third year. He had lost his virginity to her, he had done things to her and with her and at her behest that would likely make a decent girl wince or pass out. And he had proposed to her once. Less than a year ago he had asked for her hand in marriage, thinking that the two of them could take over the world if they were just to do so together. And she had laughed in his face. He'd hated her from that moment on.

It was likely due partly to Aphrodite that Lucius had turned his gaze to the sweet and reserved Cissy Black. Narcissa was everything Aphrodite was not. She was well mannered and demure; she was lovely and understated and polite and from one of the best and oldest families in Wizarding Britain. She was far more appropriate a match for a Malfoy. But she was the younger sister of two of his closest associates. Bellatrix, the eldest and meanest of the three, had warned Lucius and Aphrodite away from her baby sister the day that Narcissa had come to Hogwarts. Andromeda, the middle sister, was in his same year, and was the friendly and outgoing one of the three. An and Lucius had made friends on the train and only gotten closer as their years in Slytherin passed.

An would make sure that he didn't make an ass of himself in front of Narcissa. She was going to be a huge help. Lucius kept telling himself that as he found the boys' rooms and changed quickly into his swim trunks. He snatched a towel from an open cupboard in the hallway and headed back out onto the deck.

Narcissa was still on the chaise, her thin ankles crossed and her ivory skin glistening in the sunlight. Damn she was pretty. Lucius saw at once, much to his chagrin, that the chair next to her was now occupied. Matthew Macnair was in Narcissa's year and he was just as Slytherin and just as pure blooded as any other. And apparently he had just said something funny. The two of them were laughing, Narcissa more so than Matthew. Her laughter was pleasant, not over loud, but genuine sounding and almost musical. But as much as he enjoyed listening to her laugh, Lucius did not relish the idea of having such competition here this weekend. And why hadn't An mentioned this?

"It must be funny," Lucius stated wryly as he came through the door and back out onto the deck.

"Malfoy!" Macnair called. He stood from his seat and extended his hand, which Lucius took.

"Good to see you," Lucius lied as he shook the other boy's hand. It wasn't as though he didn't like Macnair, but it wasn't at all good to see him out here making Narcissa laugh.

"Yourself as well, Lucius," Matthew answered, sitting back down on the chaise. "Just get here?" he asked. Lucius nodded.

"That I did," he replied. "I was at the Bulstrodes'," he added. Oh, this was near to perfect. "And Ellison wanted to ride together. Of course, she was running late and it took us far too long to get here." Matthew smiled and nodded.

"Must've just missed you, then," he replied. "I was just at the Bulstrodes'. Imogene and I just got here. She was still waiting to get permission to come." Narcissa shook her head.

"As though her parents had no idea that this party was happening,' she injected. "We've been talking about it for months; since Christmas. And since when did her parents ever tell her she couldn't come and spend time with me?" She turned her head to Lucius and smiled. "I'm a good influence, you know?" she addressed to him. Lucius smiled. "So what if I happen to know that there's a couples' floor? And so what if my best friend wants to spend the weekend with her boyfriend?" Now she was smiling at Matthew. "I don't care," she added. "We're practically of age, and the two of you have been involved since Imogene first figured out that boys don't have cooties."

So that was the situation? Matthew Macnair was here with Imogene Bulstrode. Well, then, that was no problem. Narcissa would never even consider flirting with her best friend's beau, so the fact that Lucius had found the two of them laughing together was no issue at all.

"Let's go swimming!" Lucius heard Imogene's voice calling from the stairs inside the cottage. She bounded out onto the deck and snatched Narcissa's hat off of her head. "C'mon, Cissy," Imogene implored. "Let's get in the water."

"Imogene, I told you, I hate the shore," Narcissa answered. Perhaps that had been partially responsible for her less than hospitable attitude earlier.

"How can you hate the shore?" Lucius asked her. He would get her to talk to him come hell or high water.

"Cissy's afraid she'll get freckles," Imogene answered snidely. Narcissa placed her hat deliberately back onto her head and huffed.

"Imogene, that's private," she rebuffed her friend. She shook her head and then looked back and forth from Imogene to Lucius. "But if you must know," she said to him. "We went to St. Moritz once when I was nine and I got sunburned and it was miserable and after that I was freckled for nearly a year. So yes, perhaps its vanity, but I do not like the beach."

"Then why did you even come?" Imogene asked. Narcissa shrugged.

"Because Anny asked me to," she answered. "I don't know why she wanted me to come, but she invited me, and she said I could invite a few friends. So here I am."

"And here we are, Cissy," Imogene added. "And we want to enjoy the party, so come on," she goaded.

"Surely you can enjoy the party while I stay here and enjoy my book?" she asked them.

"Surely you can enjoy your book over there," Imogene argued, pointing to the laughing group of teens playing Wizard Pong on the sand near the breakers. Narcissa sighed and put her book down on the little wicker table next to her. She stood and pulled a batik sarong from the chair behind her and wrapped it around her waist. Lucius had to admit that he was silently a little thankful for her decision to cover up. The last thing he needed this weekend was to get caught staring at Narcissa inappropriately, and it occurred to him that a beach party might not have been the ideal circumstance in which to begin courting Narcissa's attentions, as he might have to avoid her for spells just to keep certain animal inclinations from becoming apparent.

"Alright, Imogene," Narcissa agreed, picking up her book and her wand from the little table. "I can read just as well over there," she acquiesced. Imogene giggled a bit and waited for Narcissa to clear the path so that she and Matthew could take hands. As the four of them descended the stairs, Lucius regarded the leather volume in Narcissa's hands.

"Might I ask what this book is that is holding your attention so?" he asked her. Narcissa smiled pleasantly at him but Imogene answered first.

"Any book would do that, Lucius," she said as they began across the sand. "You know Cissy loves books more than parties."

"You wouldn't like it," Narcissa assured him candidly.

"I do read, Narcissa," he countered. She shook her head, but continued to smile at him.

"I'm sure you do," she agreed. "But it's extra credit," she explained. "_An Assay of the History of Magic Only Entertainment in Wizarding Britain_," she gave the title. Lucius chuckled.

"You know you don't have to do schoolwork while on holidays, Narcissa," he cajoled. She shook her head.

"You're not at all concerned about your N.E.W.T. scores?" she asked him. Lucius shook his head. He really hadn't given his exams a second thought. He knew that whatever his scores were he would have a future in politics and intrigue, it was his birthright. And Narcissa Black certainly couldn't care about eventual employment.

"Really, I am not," he told her.

"Well," she sighed, "You're lucky then. My parents will be most unsettled if I don't do at least as well as Bella and Anny did. So," she shrugged her shoulders and regarded the book. "I study," she finished.

"Ah," Lucius allowed. He knew that all three of the Black girls were bright, but having been friends with the elder two and in the same year as one of them, he was certain that Narcissa was the most academically adept of the three. "You certainly display a scholastic aptitude that your sisters have seemed to lack," he complimented her. Narcissa smiled a little more widely at him as she approached the palette of blankets laid out for the party.

"I just read more," she explained. "I'm better at potions and Arthrimancy, but Bella could take anyone at defensive spells and Anny is a whiz at Charms. I have to scramble to keep my average up." She seated herself gingerly on the blankets and situated her skirt around her legs.

"Sure I can't talk you into the game," he offered, placing his own towel on top of the palette and shooting her the most charming smile he could come up with. Narcissa smiled at him again.

"Maybe after I get this finished," she offered. "I'd feel too guilty otherwise."

"Very well," he agreed. He turned toward the other teens just in time to see Ellison barreling toward him.

"Lucius!" she called out as she ran. Elle was a stout girl, and running in a swimsuit was not an activity that suited her. Her dark hair hung in damp strings and clung to her face in such a way as to make her look absolutely slovenly. She was the polar opposite of Narcissa. Lucius bet himself quietly that he would never in his life see Narcissa running. It was too unladylike.

"Mal-foy!" he heard Andromeda calling from somewhere behind Ellison. "Get your sorry arse over here and be my partner before I hex you!" she insisted.

"It appears you're being summoned," Narcissa said to him. Lucius laughed and nodded.

"It appears I am," he agreed. "I shan't keep our hostess waiting," he said, backing toward An's voice. Narcissa smiled once more and shooed him off.

That was good. It was a start. It would get better after her blasted book was finished.

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Maybe more later tonight... if not it'll be Sunday or later. I've got parades and shows to perform in all weekend. :)

-MQ


	3. Chapter 3

"Lucius, I'm drunk," Andromeda announced, turning her head so far to her left that she nearly lost her balance and fell off of the log she was seated on. Lucius chuckled and walked up behind her, steadying her shoulders as he went. He and several of the other boys had just returned from a walk around the rented property and had apparently missed a bit of debauchery while they were gone.

"Well then, I've got good news," he told her, scooting onto the edge of the log behind her so that she could lean on him. This wasn't the first time he'd dealt with An drunk, and he knew pretty well what the protocol was.

"What's that?" she asked, offering him the half empty bottle of firewhiskey in her hand. Lucius took the bottle and set it in the sand at their feet.

"Your parents won't be able to find you even if they come looking," he informed her.

"Nobody's parents," Evan Rosier told the group.

"How's that?" Andromeda asked them.

"We've made the party unplottable," Lucius explained. It had been his idea, and he was certainly willing to take credit. As the sun had begun to set, Peter Crabbe had started wondering just how much trouble any of them might be in if their parents dropped by. And none of them would put it past Leah Burke's parents to do so. And since Peter was determined to seal the deal with Leah once and for all this weekend, Lucius had suggested that they charm the beach so that it would be unplottable. All of the boys had thought this a brilliant idea and they had gone out en masse to make it so. They returned to the group just as the beach was fully darkening and the party goers had gathered around a newly lit bonfire.

"Bloody brilliant!" Andromeda exclaimed. "I always knew that you were a good person to know, Malfoy." She made that comment a bit too loudly; loud even for drunken Anny. Lucius posited silently that her praise had been more for Narcissa's benefit than his own. Ellsion, for her part, smiled and moved from her place across the circle to sit in the sand at Lucius' feet. She reached over and turned on the wireless set as she added.

"You really were very clever, Lucius." He smiled down at her. Damn. He didn't want to upset, Elle, he just had most definitely not come to this party to spend time with her.

"So what have we missed?" he addressed to the group, "other than the first several bottles?" he added jocularly, elbowing Andromeda in the ribs.

"Cissy has just been regaling us with tales of the Wizards Circus," An told him, adding an elbow to his own ribcage for emphasis. "Apparently the famous McLeannes have been at the detached trapeze for eleven generations."

"I wouldn't say 'regaling', Andromeda," Narcissa countered from her seat on a blanket to the immediate right of the log upon which Lucius, Andromeda, and several others were sitting. "You're exaggerating," she added. She sounded a little embarrassed.

"So you finished your book then?" Lucius addressed to her.

"I did," she affirmed. Excellent. Lucius hadn't really decided yet, but he had entertained the notion of trying to maneuver to get her alone at some point, and he knew that would never come to anything with a book in her hand. Ellison had turned on the Wireless and, after much static, had found music.

"Lucius, dance with me?" Elle invited. My, but she was being forward. Lucius chuckled and shook his head.

"Lucius, don't get up," Andromeda implored. "I'm leaning on you so I don't fall over." An was a god friend. He tilted his head toward Ellison and shrugged his shoulders. Other couples had begun to get up and dance around the bonfire to the strains of the peppy tune coming from the wireless set. Lucius found it odd, the way his friends were acting, but he couldn't help but be amused at the way the inebriated girls were acting.

"Pass me that!" Imogene called to Lucius, pointing at the bottle at his feet. Lucius nodded his head and picked the bottle up from out of the sand.

"Narcissa, do you mind?" he asked, passing the bottle in the general direction of Imogene, but not leaning in so far as to knock the leaning Andromeda off balance. Narcissa nodded her head and reached out her hand to take the vessel from him.

"Thank you!" Imogene exclaimed, practically snatching the bottle from Narcissa's hand. She popped off the lid and took a swig directly from the mouth of the bottle.

"Imogene, please," Narcissa commented. "Right out of the bottle? It's shameful."

"Cissy!" Imogene complained.

"Imogene," Narcissa echoed her tone. "A lady oughtn't to drink spirits," she admonished. "And most certainly not right from the bottle."

"Oh, Cissy," Andromeda sighed. "But that's the whole point of this weekend," she informed her sister. "We're about to graduate, most of us," she added. "And we'll go out into the world and be exactly what we're expected to be. We'll all grow up to be well bred, well mannered, well placed witches and wizards and do our duty to our blood and to society. But for this weekend, we're just a bunch of teenagers out to have a good time."

"Exactly," Imogene agreed. "This weekend there's nobody here to tell us not to drink from the bottle, or when and to whom we can and cannot show our bosom or our knees. I personally love the idea that I can come to a weekend and drink from a bottle and snog my boyfriend and know that nobody is around but other people who want to snog their boyfriends and drink from a bottle, and eat with their fingers, and not dress for dinner, or bother with calling cards or at home days. This is our one chance to just misbehave and act like bloody teenagers and not care that there could be consequences for it. Fifty years from now our grandchildren will be getting married and we'll be able to have a laugh in the corner remembering just how bad we were this weekend. Every cotillion, every amuse de foie gras from here on out will at least be experienced knowing what it is to let out hair down and forget who we are. We may never get this chance again as long as we live."

"Hear hear!" Matthew cheered, putting his arm around Imogene's shoulder and kissing her cheek.

"Precisely, Cissy," Andromeda agreed. "Well put, Imogene," she added. "We're it," An declared. "If you look around this campfire, you see nearly the totality of the next generation of the British Magical Aristocracy. It's nice to have a holiday from being that. That's why I picked a beach party. I want all of us to get one final break from being Blacks or Malfoys or Bulstrodes, Crabbes, Goyles, Crouches, Macnairs, Rosiers, Parkinsons…all of us, Cissy; we've all got these huge lives to lead. And it's a real joy to be someplace with no parents and no teachers and no gossip columnists from the society pages. I am thoroughly drunk for the first and what's likely to be the only time in my life, and I happen to like it. And I like this ghastly music. It's ghastly, but I still like it; and maybe that's because I'm drunk, and I like that. I think I'll even like having a headache in the morning. I've heard about hangovers, but I've never actually had one. And I want to have one."

"An, you're rambling," Lucius whispered in her ear. He normally wouldn't have cared less, but he could tell that Andromeda's rant was bothering Narcissa and he very much wanted her not to leave. "And you have been drunk before," he commented.

"Not this drunk," she answered, shaking her head slowly.

"An!" Cissy exclaimed, obviously surprised at this revelation regarding her sister.

"Not this drunk," Lucius affirmed, looking Narcissa in the eye by way of comfort. He wasn't sure whether or not it had helped, but he was sure that her eyes were scathing as she looked back at him.

"Well," Cissy answered back. "I, for one, do not plan to blush at my grandchildren's weddings, or ever in the future if I can help it. I plan to remember myself in the company of my peers as well as society at large, and I defy any of you to fault me for it."

"We would never do such a thing," Andromeda sarcastically assured her sister. "You've always been the best behaved out of the three of us," she affirmed.

"I, for one, think it's admirable that Narcissa prefers to maintain good manners even under these circumstances," Lucius commented.

"Thank you," Narcissa said to him, tilting her head to the side in a manner that was most fetching. Lucius wondered if she had any idea how alluring she looked in the firelight. Her blonde hair was flecked in gold and the bright flames danced in her cerulean eyes. Lucius knew better than to have a single sip of the firewhiskey lest he do or say something that she would find mortally offensive. He had hoped that perhaps she would be willing to let her hair down and relax this weekend, but her statements to the contrary had certainly convinced him otherwise. He figured that his best course of action for the weekend was to be on his best behavior and hope that he came out the other side with her respect. He could begin the task of wooing her affection later.

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Short chapter, I know. But the next one is forthcoming- should be tonight. And sorry I made y'all wait until today, I think I have pneumonia... seeing a doctor again tomorrow- yuck. Ok, more writing now. Husband bringing ice cream now. :) Reviews are better than ice cream...

-MQ


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you doing that?" Lucius shook his head as he helped Andromeda across the deck and into the cottage. "Why is the house spinning?" she hollered, "make it stop!"

"The house is not spinning, Andromeda," Lucius informed her. "Nor was the bonfire. It's your head that's spinning."

"My head is fine," she contested. "It's the rest of everything that's spinning." Lucius gave a chuckle at that.

"No, no," he answered her. "I assure you it's all in your head." Andromeda had been quite astute in her earlier observation that she had never been this drunk before, of that Lucius was quite sure. He knew that he'd never seen her half so inebriated as to lose the ability to walk under her own power before. He got her through the doors and started up the first flight of stairs.

"Where are you taking me, Malfoy?" she asked him pointedly. "Up the stairs to the co-ed floor?"

"Up the stairs," he corrected, "to the one room with a door to the balcony. I think you could use the fresh air."

"Oh, okay," An agreed, nodding her head. "Eew, don't do that," she admonished herself for the jerky movement.

"Good advice," he agreed.

"Where is everybody?" An asked suddenly, looking very slowly back and forth as they continued up the stairs.

"Still on the beach, Anny," he answered. "Remember?"

"No," she spat.

"We left them out there to clean things up and a few of the couples had found themselves some quiet area of beach and you wanted to come inside, so I brought you." Lucius turned the corner at the top of the stairs and headed the two of them toward the empty room at the end of the corridor.

"You're a good friend, Lucius," she told him as he pulled her through the door and pulled it to. He drew his wand and flicked it to push open the glass door to the balcony, letting in the salt air and the sound of the breakers just a few feet from the cottage. "It's cold in here," she told him.

"Here," he offered, sitting her at the head of the bed and tossing a blanket over her from off of a bench at the foot.

"Thanks," she told him, wrapping herself in the blanket and sliding to lie with her head on the pillow. "I'm drunk," she declared; not the first time she'd had such a revelation this night. Lucius walked across the room and into the adjacent bathroom, where he ran some water into a glass that was on the counter. He then dampened a cloth from the towel rack and brought both items back into the bedroom with him. Lucius took a seat next to Andromeda on the bed and set the glass on the bedside table. "It's cold in here," she said again. Lucius chuckled and nodded his head.

"Alright," he said to her, drawing his wand again and pointing it toward her. "Warm enough?" he asked, as he watched his warming charm settle. Andromeda nodded.

"Good," he affirmed, putting away his wand.

"I'm drunk," she said again.

"Yes," he answered, "I believe we've covered that."

"And I'm a liar," she added. "I'm drunk and a liar."

"A liar, Andromeda?" he quizzed. "I've never known you to tell falsehoods."

"Oh, but I am, Lucius," she decried. "I am a wicked, wretched liar."

"I don't believe that," he said to her. Andromeda sat up quickly and looked him in the eye.

"Believe it," she instructed. "I lied to your face this afternoon."

"Really?" he asked. Lucius was intrigued. "And what is it, exactly, did you lie to me about." An had a pained look on her face and she shut her eyes very tightly.

"I don't want to tell you," she admitted. "I don't want to tell you because you'll hate me."

"Andromeda Black," he sighed. "You are quite possibly my dearest friend on the face of this planet and I assure you that there is no possible way that I could hate you."

"You're going to take that back if I tell you," she asserted.

"No, I won't," he protested. "And if I were to, you could just oblivate me in the morning." Andromeda shrugged her shoulders and snickered.

"You may be on to something there," she posited.

"See, there is no reason for you to fear confiding in me," Lucius comforted. "Now, what is it that's eating you?"

"That's just it," An said, "I've just got to tell somebody. I haven't been able to talk to anybody."

"Then just tell me," he implored again. An flopped herself backward onto the bed and groaned.

"Ted Tonks is not a sport fuck," she declared. "There's nothing sporting about it. Sure, it started off that way, but it's been more than that for months." She sat up again and looked Lucius in the eye. "I'm in love with him, Lucius," she decried, tears springing to her eyes. The sentiment seemed to deflate her. She flopped her head forward onto Lucius' shoulder. He clenched his jaw and sighed, then took her by the shoulders so that he could look her in the eye again.

"How long?" he asked, in as soft and gentle a tone as he could muster. She shook her head again.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Eight months… ten?"

"Andromeda," he sighed.

"Please don't Lucius," she implored him. "Please don't admonish me for it. Don't you know I know how wrong it is? Don't you think I've thought about the consequences a million times over? Do you think I don't know what this means?"

"What do you think it means, Anny?" he asked, laying her back onto the bed and then standing up. "What consequences do you think you'll face for having fallen in love with that…" Lucius considered his words for a minute. This was a real crisis and he did not want to alienate Andromeda over this little revelation. "Hufflepuff," he finished, arriving at a moniker that he knew wouldn't offend her. He walked to the other side of the bed and flopped himself onto his stomach next to her, propping his head on his hands and the pillow.

"He wants me to marry him," she confided.

"That serious?" he quizzed. Andromeda nodded, rolling onto her side to face him.

"Right after graduation," she added. "He asked on Valentines Day in Hogsmeade."

"And what did you say?" he prodded.

"I said I had to think about it," she told him. "I said that there were larger concerns."

"Well, then," Lucius said to her, "so far you've handled it admirably. You've done yourself no real harm. You've just got to cut it off immediately."

"But I can't do that," she challenged. "You didn't hear a word I've just said. I am so in love with him, Lucius. I wanted to say yes. I still want to say yes." Lucius closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.

"Now to my previous question," he reminded. "Have you really considered the consequences of that?" An nodded her head.

"I'll be disinherited, if not disowned," she informed him. "I'll never see mother or father or Bella and Roddy or Cissy or my cousins ever again. And I'll lose most of my friends, probably. All of these people… all of the people who are here this weekend, all of my friends that I've had my whole life; most of them will never speak to me again. I'll have no one in the world," she looked at him and sniffled, "but Ted," she finished.

"And is that enough?" Lucius asked her seriously. "Is that one person, that one passion enough to fill the rest of your life all by itself? Is that what you want, Andromeda? And what about money?" he asked, his tone very practical. He wasn't even ready to pull out the blood line argument yet, he would first try to see if logic could get through. "Does he have any?" he asked. "Can you live with whatever means he is able to provide?" Andromeda let out the first sob she'd allowed all night.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I scarcely care about those things when I think about it. I just think about how I feel when I'm with him. And I think about how happy we make each other. And I think about how amazing it is to me that just being with me makes anyone so happy. You're so lucky, Lucius," she told him. "You're so lucky that you've got your eye on Cissy. The two of you are a perfect match on paper and, knowing both of you as I do; I know that you two could be really happy together. Why did I have to fall for him? Why, Lucius?"

"It's difficult to fall in love sensibly, Anny," he comforted. "If you recall, I had my heart broken less than a year ago by a certain Aphrodite Killingsworth."

"She was a hateful little strumpet, Lucius," An said to him. "She was horrid and vulgar and you're a million times too good for her."

"Thank you," he offered. "But as I was saying, sometimes there is no comvincing your heart of what your head knows to be the truth."

"No kidding," An agreed.

"Does it have to be right after graduation?" he asked. "Couldn't you maybe wait?"

"He said right after graduation," she answered. "And what good would putting it off do?"

"Well," he answered, brushing an errant curl of hair out of her face. "You could keep sneaking around," he allowed. "You could keep lying, at least for a while; give yourself more time to think about it." An shook her head.

"You know my parents will be on me to get serious about someone and hurry down the aisle," she reminded him. "I couldn't keep it going on in secret for long."

"So you marry who they tell you to and keep your Hufflepuff friend for recreational activities notwithstanding," he instructed. "People do it all the time."

"Are you going to do that?" An half accused him. Lucius chuckled and shook his head.

"Malfoys do not keep lovers," he told her. "The gossip columnists are far too keen on trying to ruin the nouveau riche."

"I couldn't," she said. "There is no way I could marry someone else while I'm in love with Ted. I doubt the magic would even work."

"Oh, I don't know about that," he argued, "There's no mention of love in marriage vows."

"No," she allowed. "But there is of devotion and fidelity; two things I am loathe to pledge to someone I don't love. And that's doubly true seeing as there is someone who I do love, dearly."

"Anny, I don't know what to tell you," he admitted. "That was my best advice. I can say that I think it's not the brightest thing you've ever done, but you're not the first girl I've known who wanted to marry for love. It is," he considered his words carefully once again. "Unfortunate," he finally settled on. "That your heart has been won by someone of less than desirable lineage. But I assure you, whatever your decision, I will continue speaking to you; even if that has to be on the quiet." An lurched forward and embraced him, then fell a little harder than she likely intended, face first into the mattress.

"Thank you for saying that, Lucius," she said to him. "I know that there's no way that's true, but I appreciate your saying it just the same."

"I'd not lie to you," he said. An shook her head again.

"You don't mean to," she allowed. "But I know that you intend to marry Cissy. And if you are successful in that endeavor, which I think you will be, then you'll have no choice but to shun me like the rest of my relations."

"And if I fail," he posited, "then we can be friends in the daylight again." An smiled at him. "Of course," he began again, "that does bring to light another issue."

"What's that?" she sniffed.

"If you've run off to follow your heart and marry someone who might get you disowned," he posed, "who will be there to aid me in the pursuit of your sister? I certainly cannot go about winning her heart alone."

"You'll do fine, Lucius," she assured him. "You'll be happy. And maybe one day," she added, "after mother and father are dead… maybe she'll be willing to see me again. And I'm comforted by the thought that you wouldn't stop her."

"You've made up your mind, haven't you?" he guessed. Her tone just then had been almost fatalistic and Lucius was pretty sure that she was no longer speaking in hypotheticals.

"I've not made it up entirely," she assured him. She buried her head in her pillow. "There's so much to consider."

"Yes," he agreed.

"I'm just glad I have someone I can talk to about it now," she told him. "It'll help."

"Good," he affirmed, pulling her blanket up around her shoulders. "You warm enough?" he asked. An just nodded in affirmation, never picking her head up from the pillow.

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Last chapter should be in tomorrow as well as likely the first bit of a new piece. I finally figured out how that one is going to start. Cheers and thanks for the reviews!

-MQ


	5. Chapter 5

Andromeda had long since passed out. Lucius had sat on the foot of the bed for several minutes wondering just what he had ought to do about the bombshell she had just dropped on him. Anny was in love with a mudblood and it made him sick to his stomach. She couldn't marry that filth; she just couldn't. It was wrong. He considered seriously that she mightn't have told him anything about this at all had she not gotten herself so remarkably intoxicated; but she had imbibed more than a full bottle of firewhiskey and she had confessed this filthy business to him. Perhaps the alcoholic haze on her brain would make her forget the entire conversation. But perhaps he would have to have an even more serious conversation with her once they got back to school.

The one thing he was certain of for the moment was that he had ought to do what he could to get Andromeda up to the girls' floor, lest she be pranked by well meaning party goers whilst still unconscious. It wasn't unusual in Slytherin for anyone caught passed out drunk to find their hair turned green or their skin dyed purple by their classmates. At this party, he could only imagine what foul fates might befall those who left themselves unguarded. He may not be able to protect An from herself in her romantic entanglements, but he could at least spare her some hazing.

He opened the door to the hallway and poked his head out in to the hall. He had thought he heard footsteps a few minutes ago, and though better of hauling the unconscious Andromeda into the corridor and up the stairs in full view of the rest of the party. He took a few steps into the hall and rounded the corner toward the stairs leading to the top floor of the cottage. To his great surprise, halfway up the stairs sat a very concerned looking Narcissa. She was in her pajamas and a pink dressing gown, and her hair was tied up on top of her head with her wand stuck through it. She sighed when she saw him and then cast her eyes to the floor.

"I cast a silencing charm on the room," she told him. "I overheard some things," she admitted. Lucius caught his jaw dropping. Just what had she heard? Had she heard him talking about his own romantic intentions, or just her sister? Maybe she'd only heard one of An's many declarations that she was drunk.

"Thank you," Lucius said to her. "I hadn't thought anyone was here."

"I came in shortly after you did," she said. "As you may have guessed, I wasn't enjoying myself out there."

"I had guessed," he affirmed. "Will you share with me what you were able to hear?" he asked. It was worth a try.

"Enough to know that my sister is being a promiscuous fool," she sighed.

"That much?" he questioned. Narcissa nodded.

"She's letting her heart get involved with things she oughtn't have involved her flesh in to begin with." Lucius nodded.

"Well put," he agreed. "But perhaps she'll think better of things in the long run."

"Perhaps," Narcissa allowed, shrugging. "I can hope for that," she added. "I wouldn't want to consider the consequences otherwise."

"Myself as well," he concurred. "Did anyone else hear anything?" he asked. Narcissa shook her head.

"No," she answered. "I was the only person to come in before I fixed it so that no one could hear."

"Your candor impresses me, Narcissa," he complemented. "Most people would likely have been content to listen in at the door."

"Likely so," she conceded. "But I detest such conniving. If Andromeda wanted me to know about her inclinations toward that young man, then she'd have told me. Unless or until she decides to share her feelings with me, then I shall remain in the dark about it." Lucius couldn't help but smile at that. He had to fight the urge he was having at that moment to reach out and kiss her. He couldn't have imagined a more perfect response to this situation. The more time he spent with Narcissa, the more he was sure that she was the one. But he knew better than to try and flirt with her under these circumstances. Best to show her the respect she had just again proven herself due and try to get her to see him as more than the 'smug nouveau riche playboy' he'd once overheard Narcissa refer to him as. He had to keep a handle on himself and play this correctly.

"You are a true lady, Narcissa," he said to her.

"I appreciate your saying so," she replied. She stood on the stairs and took a few steps down toward him. "I'm going to check on my sister," she told him. "Is she alright?" Lucius nodded and stepped back to allow her room to pass.

"She's passed out," he told her. "I was going to try to get her upstairs," he added. Narcissa shook her head.

"You can't go up the stairs," she reminded him. "They're enchanted. No boys can get up them."

"I knew that," he allowed, shaking his head. "Perhaps we could levitate her…"

"No," she countered. "That's not going to work either. The charms don't allow for anyone to be levitated up the stairs, either."

"Could you remove them?" he asked. "Just so that we can get An upstairs…." Narcissa shook her head and shrugged.

"I'd do it gladly," she agreed, "but I'm not the one who put them there. Ivy Macnair wanted to make sure that none of the boys could get up these stairs by any means. She's the one who charmed the staircase."

"And I suppose Ivy could not be convinced to take off the charms even for a second?" he asked.

"And therein you've found the irony, Lucius," she told him. "Ivy Macnair is nowhere to be found. She was last seen skulking off from the bonfire with Christopher Parkinson, but that was hours ago." Lucius laughed aloud at that.

"Not the obvious choice to be the guardian of virtue," he observed. Narcissa allowed herself a laugh.

"I suppose not," she chuckled, flashing him a grin that made his knees go a little shaky. This wasn't her standard smile; it was an unguarded expression that he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before, but would have been willing to pay any amount to see again. "I can stay down here with An," she offered.

"That would be best," he agreed. "I would offer," he added, "but I fear the talk it may incite were I to be discovered sharing a room with your sister."

"I appreciate your consideration," Narcissa said to him, taking a step toward the room where here sister was out cold.

"I'm in the room at the end of the hallway," he told her, pointing to the stairs leading down to the ground floor. "Feel free to come and wake me if you need anything," he offered. "I mean, if An needs anything," he corrected.

"Thank you," Narcissa answered. "But I shan't impose," she added. "As I am quite sure you'll want to rejoin the festivities out on the beach." Lucius hoped that the frown he felt himself tense in to wasn't terribly obvious to her.

"To the contrary, Narcissa," he assured her. "I'll be in my room."

"Very well then," she affirmed. "Good night, Lucius," she said. "And thank you."

"You are very welcome, Narcissa," he told her. "Good night." Lucius smiled at her before turning to go back down the stairs to the boys' floor. It had been a good night after all.

-FIN

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Remember to click the review button!!! A new story coming tonight or tomorrow. :) Thanks for all the support!

-MQ


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